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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Late Night Open Thread: Who Is Giuliani’s New Spokeswoman, Christianné Allen?

Late Night Open Thread: Who Is Giuliani’s New Spokeswoman, Christianné Allen?

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CNN, on Monday:

Rudy Giuliani is considering re-entering the impeachment fray by launching a podcast to provide impeachment analysis of the public hearings in the House of Representatives scheduled for later this week.

Giuliani was overheard discussing the plans with an unidentified woman while at a crowded New York City restaurant, Sant Ambroeus, over lunch on Saturday. The conversation, which lasted more than an hour, touched on details including dates for recording and releasing the podcast, settling on a logo, and the process of uploading the podcast to iTunes and other podcast distributors…

“Many Americans want to hear directly from Rudy Giuliani,” said Christianné Allen, a spokeswoman for Giuliani, who confirmed to CNN that he discussed the podcast idea at lunch on Saturday. “He is considering several options, in consultation with Jay Sekulow and the legal team, regarding the best way to move forward. As of now, they have not decided on the strategy but are getting very close.”…

Closed-door testimony from multiple witnesses describes Giuliani as a key facilitator of conversations and actions that have led to the impeachment probe. This week, public testimony from several of those witnesses, including former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, senior State Department official George Kent and Bill Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine following Yovanovitch’s removal, is expected to further highlight Giuliani’s central role. Giuliani has said his actions were all done as part of his legal defense of Trump…

Roger Sollenberger, on Sunday, at Salon:

… [I]n late September Giuliani hired a communications director. The new hire — 20-year-old Liberty University Online communications major (’22) Christianné Allen—is currently the most solid connection between the work the President’s private attorney was doing in Ukraine, an ongoing federal investigation into two of his clients, and a Long Island personal injury lawyer who for reasons still unclear reportedly paid Giuliani $500,000 in two lump-sum “loans” on behalf of a scam business in the fall of 2018.

And so, as I thumbed through an Instagram account, I found myself wondering why in the world Rudy Giuliani hired this woman, who can’t help but document everything she does, everywhere she goes, sowing circumstantial evidence across the internet that could impact impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.

The connections between Allen and Giuliani at first struck me as superficial: Why did Giuliani — a former U.S. attorney and mayor of New York City, the president’s personal lawyer and an untamed media presence, to put it charitably — hire a wildly underqualified pseudo-evangelical Turning Point USA social media personality to clean up his comms operations?

The first red flag was Allen’s experience. She styles herself as a jet-setting, gun-porning, right-wing Instagram influencer. Her online bios say she was a “spokeswoman” for the 2016 Trump campaign, but in reality she was a teenage intern with a thin record of spokeswomaning. Allen also did social media for the 2018 congressional campaign of far-right Republican long-shot Tim Donnelly, founder of the California Minutemen Party, who didn’t come close to winning even the GOP vote. She volunteered for Virginia Women for Trump, and her bios say she now serves on the finance committee for Trump Victory Committee. (Allen’s LinkedIn omits her work on the Donnelly campaign.)

But her LinkedIn page has an anomaly: A 2016 summer internship Allen landed at a Long Island personal injury firm, a long way from her rural Virginia home.

That personal injury firm is Gucciardo Law, headed by Charles Gucciardo. Last week Giuliani and Gucciardo confirmed to the New York Times that Gucciardo gave $500,000 to the former mayor through Giuliani’s firm, Giuliani Partners, in two payments in September and October 2018. According to Gucciardo’s lawyer, the payments went to Giuliani on behalf of Fraud Guarantee, a company co-managed by Giuliani’s clients Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Their work with Fraud Guarantee — whose mission statement is to help their customers “reduce and mitigate fraud” — helped earn them a federal indictment last month.

Gucciardo’s lawyer told the Times the funds were loans convertible into equity in the company. As the Times pointed out, though, Fraud Guarantee doesn’t seem to have any clients or customers, and it’s unclear why someone in Gucciardo’s position — an experienced lawyer — would invest half a million dollars in such a company. Per Gucciardo’s lawyer, he did so because Giuliani was involved, and Giuliani was “the first name in cybersecurity.”…

Strangely enough, we still don’t yet know how Gucciardo, Giuliani, and Parnas all met. The only thing that binds this group other than money is, oddly enough, Christianné Allen…

This feels more like an Alex Jones throwaway than real life, or at least life before the current Oval Office Occupant. But seriously: The kindest interpretation would seem to be that Giuiliani, cybersecurity “expert” and the President’s (ex?) lawyer, is reduced to taking his cues from a 20ish product of the Wingnut Wurlitzer veal pen.

More suspicious minds would think, well, Rudy’s always been susceptible to what used to be termed ‘feminine charms’, and there’s more than one Maria Butina in the GRU…

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  3. 3.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Giuliani was “the first name in cybersecurity.

    Barron Trump knows the cyber better than Rudy,. I’ve worked for lawyers about Rudy’s age, helping them turn on their computers was something I had to do.

  4. 4.

    JAFD

    Good morning, gentlepeople and fellow Jackals !

    Have good day. If ’tis cold where you are, keep warm.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “OK Rudy, I’ll take your case on. Now, shut the fuck up.”
    “I’m on Meet the Press this Sunday.”
    “Shut the fuck up, Rudy.”
    I’m on Sean Hannity tonight.”
    “Shut the fuck up, Rudy.”
    Rush Limbaugh called and…”
    “Shut the fuck up, Rudy.”
    “I’m thinking of doing a podcast on…”
    “Shut the fuck up, Rudy.”
    “I want to meet with this WaPo repor….”
    “Shut the fuck up, Rudy.”
    “I was telling Tucker just now…”
    “………………….. What the fuck was I thinking?”

  7. 7.

    Chris T.

    “Many Americans want to hear directly from Rudy Giuliani,”

    … as long as by “many” you mean: 1, 2, 3, many.

  8. 8.

    John Revolta

    Maria Butina

    First thing I thought of (although I’m one of these suspicious mind types).
    So let’s say Ms Allen is a Friend of Vlad. Next question: does Rudy know?
    I mean, he CAN’T be that stupid……….?

  9. 9.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    It is amusing how these guys who fancy themselves as alpha apex males plus, plus and so on are so easily lead around by their wedding tackle. Suppose that’s what happen when you don’t see women as fellow human beans, or mistake them for your daughter.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    “But the strawberries, that’s where I had them. I proved with geometric logic that a duplicate key to the icebox existed.”

  14. 14.

    Quinerly

    Read that entire Salon piece over the weekend. What a read! Not sure what to truly make of it. Plus, her failed marijuana business/reality show…..

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @M. Bouffant:

    C’mon, she’s an Instagram influencer! Although perhaps it’s somewhat hard to influence people when your Instagram account is private. ?

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The British founder of the organisation that trained the Syrian rescue group known as the White Helmets has died in Istanbul. A spokesman for the White Helmets confirmed on Monday afternoon the death of James Le Mesurier and said further details were yet to be established.

    Le Mesurier, 48, was found dead near his apartment in central Istanbul’s Beyoğlu neighbourhood at around 4.30am. Turkish media reports said he was found with fractures to his head and legs and appeared to have fallen from a balcony. The office of Istanbul’s governor said it had commenced a “comprehensive” investigation. The Reuters news agency said it had been told his death was being treated as suspected suicide.

    Friends said Le Mesurier had been operating for years under significant pressure from orchestrated attacks on his reputation and the stress of running a high-profile NGO.
    …………………………….
    The Guardian has previously documented how the organisation has been the target of a disinformation campaign, conducted with the support of the Russian government, that positions it as an al-Qaida-linked terrorist organisation.

    Le Mesurier had been subject to similar campaigns and was targeted by Russia’s foreign ministry as recently as last week.

    I guess they ran out of polonium.

  20. 20.

    eldorado

    It’s like a remake of Run, Lola, Run except they are all past-it jerks who don’t know how to get there.

    i can easily see rudy leaving a bag of money on the subway and then deciding he needs to rob a grocery store.

    the question in both cases is why would the lady waste her time with those idiots

  21. 21.

    JPL

    Once again Jimmy Carter is undergoing surgery in a few hours to relieve pressure on his brain. Although it doesn’t sound complicated, because of his age one worries. The swelling is due to a recent fall he had.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    Giuliani hired a university student to be his spokesperson? I thought he was himself basically a spokesperson for Trump. (He sure ain’t acting like a lawyer for Trump; that I’m dead sure of.) I wonder how she juggles studenting in Virginia with spokespersoning in New York.

  26. 26.

    JPL

    @satby: Are you working today? It’s cold and going to get colder, but just rain for us. It might switch over for a bit though.

  27. 27.

    Patricia Kayden

    Fraud Guarantee is a perfect description of the Trump regime. Everyone linked to Trump is sleazy as hell. A bunch of criminals.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Probably old news around here,

    John Oliver and his team at HBO’s Last Week Tonight swung for the Emmy fences on Sunday, and hit a grand slam home run.

    The segment was about a lawsuit against them from Bob Murray, coal baron and SLAPP lawsuit filer.

    It turns out he is also an alleged (Please note, C&L “legal team”) workplace harasser who allegedly (same note) demanded a female employee find his kidney stone on the office carpet, but I digress, and so did John Oliver.

    SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuit against public participation” — nuisance lawsuits designed to intimidate and silence critics — illegal in the majority of states. So people like Bob Murray simply file their SLAPP suits in states like West Virginia, where they are NOT illegal.

    After two years and a massive legal bill, HBO and John Oliver triumphed, and are able to speak about it.

    Or sing on the streets of New York City in full Broadway regalia. They pulled out all the stops:

    The musical interlude begins at the 21:00 mark.

  31. 31.

    Alien Radio

    Liberty U? I’m gonna guess Evangelical White Supremacist working the Russian Orthodox/Evangelical angle like Mike Pence. Is this what’s gonna start opening up the Evangelical orgs to investigative exposure? These guys aren’t very smart…

  33. 33.

    JGabriel

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Suppose that’s what happen when you don’t see women as fellow human beans, or mistake them for your daughter.

    I really don’t think Giuliani is looking at Allen like a daughter … unless the example you’re thinking of is Donald Trump looking at Ivanka.

  37. 37.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    If Trump wasn’t guilty of extortion and if the GOP didn’t know it, Guiliani would have been on their witness list. But, of course, both of them are guilty, the GOP knows it, and the GOP can’t find any witnesses to exonerate Trump. So Guiliani has to muddy the waters by “testifying” outside anyplace where it really counts.

  40. 40.

    Citizen_X

    this woman, who can’t help but document everything she does, everywhere she goes, sowing circumstantial evidence across the internet that could impact impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.

    I will love it if these fascist gits are brought down by the fact that they can’t shut the fuck up about their crimes on Twitter and Instagram.

  42. 42.

    Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)

    I lived in NYC throughout the entire Giuiliani administration and I cannot, for the life of me, think of one thing Giuiliani ever did to promote cyber security. I fail to see how “did not go into a defensive crouch during 9/11” became a blanket qualification for all things security-related. The man can’t even secure his own phone!

  43. 43.

    Just Chuck

    @Bookeater (formerly JosieJ): As Trump’s bag man, he probably did more to dismantle any existing cyber-security programs already in place. Would have tried anyway, he’s actually less effective than Jared as a henchman, and that’s a hell of a low bar.

    That’s something I still don’t hear in all the impeachment chatter. Literally the very first thing Trump did was shut down our existing cyber-security apparatus. Trump leaving us more open to attack is no accident. All roads lead to Putin.

  45. 45.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    I wonder how she juggles studenting in Virginia with spokespersoning in New York.

    She is a student at Liberty University Online, so easily. I suspect very little actual student work is required given how well Liberty graduates do in commercial workplaces. After all, you can’t milk tuition from students who you flunk out.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    @eldorado:

    the question in both cases is why would the lady waste her time with those idiots

    Because she’s paid reasonably well to do so….
    Because she’s not who she says she is……
    Because they are very easily led – @OzarkHillbilly: is right. And many are able to be led by the much smaller brain.
    Because they are not all that sharp….
    Because they think they are the sharpest tools in the drawer…..
    They are not.

  48. 48.

    Dev Null

    @Ruckus: Ghouliani gotta ghoul, but when did Ghouliani the Cross-dresser become Ghouliani the hirer of wet-behind-the-ears Talibangicals? Why would a Talibangelical shack up withbecome a business associate of Ghouliani the Cross-dresser?

    Next you’ll be telling me that it’s perfectly normal for just-out-of-the-cradle conservative evangelical religious freaks to hook up with cross-dressing Catholic politicians 3x their age.

    “Rudy’s 20 year old spokeswoman” isn’t the only odd aspect to the connection.

  50. 50.

    Dev Null

    @The Lodger:

    You’re expecting principles from a Liberty U student? These people stand for nothing and will fall for anything.

    At the risk of seeming insufferable (hey, it’s not an act!), let me point out that I wrote:

    Next you’ll be telling me that it’s perfectly normal for just-out-of-the-cradle conservative evangelical religious freaks to hook up with cross-dressing Catholic politicians 3x their age.

    Perhaps I should have added a sarcasm tag.

    E2A: I don’t expect anything other than grifting from conservative evangelical leadership (and I am rarely disappointed!), but this young lady started early. /snark

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